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Teaching A Horse To Hug
By Horse Guy | July 11, 2010
A hug is one of the best comforters when you are down. It uplifts your mood knowing that someone sympathize your emotions. No one is exempted in receiving or giving a hug to a friend in need. That being said, if you do not have any company and badly needs a hug, why not ask it from your horse? Yes, a horse can give hugs too! They can give you this with his neck and head of course!
In training your horse on giving hugs, you will need the following:
1. Clicker or your attention so you can reward the horse or praise it at the moment he does the right thing.
2. Small treats you have. This may come into varieties depending on what the horse prefers. You can give carrot slices, horse crunch, sugar cubes and the likes.
3. A bag for the small treats you have.
4. Spare at least 10 minutes of your time a few times a day.
5. Most especially, your horse that is in a loose stall, a round pen, or in a quite stable with a lead rope and halter. Do not tie the horse or you will just restrict his head movements. And you should not do that since a horse hugs using his head and neck, remember?
If you have all things set, you are now ready for the steps to follow in training your horse.
Now, if your horse has already undergone target training, just stand with your back to the horse, hold the target over on shoulder and then move it down towards the opposite hip. Then, encourage your horse to move a step forward and reach downwards over your shoulder to be able to touch the target. With this, you may need to back up a bit and let yourself position to make it easier for your horse at first.
Also, alternately, you can use the treat you have in one hand and as the horse nuzzles the hand with your treat, bring your hand down towards the opposite hip.
If the horse is in the position you want the horse to be in, click and then treat. Sooner or later, the horse will learn it and eventually you will not need the treat each time you need a hug.
Just always put in mind to keep your training sessions as short as possible like 10 minutes or so at a time. After the 10 minutes or so, go for another task like cleaning the stall or doing another chore before going back to the horse and do the training again.
Originally posted 2009-03-19 15:28:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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